Van Hees Strategic Advisory
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Professional football organizations and blockchain technology: Football clubs are sleeping on the future.
The modern football world excels in conservatism. While society and the entertainment industry are digitalizing at a rapid pace, professional football organizations (PFOs) remain stuck in outdated structures. They lean on traditional revenue streams such as television rights, stadium attendance, and shirt sponsorship, while the real digital revolution is already in full swing.
Socially, a trend can be observed, and it is digital. Cash is being replaced by CBDCs, and your passport and other identifications are turning into a digital ID. There is hard work being done towards this, and eventually, it will arrive. I expect the foundations to be made public somewhere in 2027. Parties such as the European Central Bank have been talking publicly about digitalizing money for years. It just never reaches the mainstream media, meaning the majority of people have no idea what is about to happen.
And this is only the beginning, as major companies such as BlackRock, among others, are tokenizing the world, which means that everything that physically exists in the world is being made digital. In effect, the physical world is gaining a digital brother or sister. Real estate, land, water, nature, animals, people, but also stocks, gold, silver, and so on are being digitized. This new digital world is made possible by blockchain technology. In this way, everything becomes tradable on exchanges like Wall Street.
I suspect that we as humans will all soon have a digital wallet containing all our data. You should think of your digital ID, medical records, and financial matters. I could go into further detail, but in this case, it is about giving you a vision of the future so that you understand what I am about to discuss. After all, this blog is about the integration of the underlying technology in professional football organizations and what it can mean for clubs. Most football clubs are still completely asleep when it comes to this technology, but there are also a few pioneers.
I have just explained in a nutshell what tokenization means in daily life. Through blockchain technology, it is possible for football clubs to tokenize football-related matters. Giants such as Paris Saint-Germain (PSG), FC Barcelona, Manchester City, Juventus, AC Milan, Inter Milan, Atlético Madrid, AS Roma, and Arsenal have all launched their own official fan tokens (www.socios.com) to allow supporters to vote on topics within the club. Even at the national level, you can see the shift. For example, the Royal Belgian Football Association (RBFA) has launched an official partnership for the Red Devils, following in the footsteps of associations from countries like Argentina, Portugal, Italy, and Spain.
And FIFA, too, through their FIFA Collect platform—running on the Avalanche blockchain—has rolled out a completely new system with Right-to-Buy (RTB) and Right-to-Ticket (RTT) instruments. With these, they secure purchase rights and digital tickets on the chain to combat extortionate prices, scams, and scalpers, and to keep the secondary market strictly within their own ecosphere.
In addition, they introduced the FIFA Fan ID: NFC chip cards that you physically collect at the stadium and link to your smartphone, building a bridge between the physical experience in the stadium and a complete digital world of content, rewards, and personalized merchandise.
Everything I have just presented to you comes together in a digital wallet. Let's start with the most basic matters. This allows clubs to offer and sell season tickets and match tickets digitally. The digital wallet is linked to the digital ID, so the club knows exactly who they are dealing with. This is in regard to safety within the stadium. It even allows clubs to let fans check in digitally for their spot in the stadium before the match. This allows people with a phone and a digital ticket to enter the stadium without delays. Everything happens fully automatically. Are there people misbehaving? No problem: as a club, you have the footage and the corresponding digital IDs.
What I personally find very cool is that this technology enables clubs to strengthen the ties with their fans. It seems incredibly awesome to me for fans if they can vote on the colors of the away shirt, the track that is played when a goal is scored, and so on. You can create a whole digital experience alongside the physical world, just as BlackRock does. Players, statistics, matches played, titles—it can all be digitized into digital merchandise. If you combine this with social media as I outlined in blog #4: Football clubs and social media: in the Netherlands and Belgium, that combination is still quite a thing, and the digital branch of the club stands strong.
One more thing: Where are the KNVB and the KBVB with their digital Panini stickers? FIFA has already launched a digital app for it. I hope you realize that this industry is worth billions. As a club, you want to be progressive, groundbreaking, and innovative. That starts with digitalizing the club.
Have you been inspired by this blog as an owner, board member, or general manager of a football club? Then get in touch.